Feds sued for $6.4 million by businessman who says he was unwittingly drawn into DEA informant’s murder

The U.S. government and a ranking Drug Enforcement Administration official here are being sued for up to $6.4 million over a wild shootout in which a commercial truck driver moonlighting as a secret informant was slain by gangsters in the proximity of as many as two dozen officers on a counter-narcotics task force .

The dead man’s former boss contends the DEA used his 18-wheeler in the 2011 government sting _ that played out in Harris County _ without permission; refused to repair the bullet-riddled truck after the shooting; and subjected him and his family to unwarranted retaliation by the Zetas cartel, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Houston.

The suit names the U.S. government; the DEA’s Houston Division chief Javier Pena; Harris County Sheriff’s Office detective Mark Reynolds; and as many as a dozen other law enforcement officers whose identities are not yet publicly known.

The DEA had no immediate comment on the suit, which posted at the bottom of this story.

“In the interest of justice we will not discuss pending litigation,” said the sheriff’s office in an email.

The November 2011 shooting has already been a spectacle.

It revealed that truck driver Lawrence Chapa was also working for the government, and exposed a bungled operation to take on smugglers tied to the Zetas, one of the region’s most notorious crime syndicates.

During the melee in which Chapa was killed by cartel-linked attackers, a Houston police officer on the task force shot and wounded a Harris County sheriff’s deputy, who was also on the scene in plainclothes.

The lawsuit could force authorities to reveal a trove of information regarding exactly what Chapa was doing for the government in the days leading up to the attack, as well as how a drug cartel was able to infiltrate the DEA operation.

“We are going to see how the sausage was made in this undercover operation, and I don’t think they are going to like it,” said Fred Shepherd, who along with fellow Houston lawyer Arnold Vickery, filed the suit.

The 53-year-old Chapa, who had a bald head and a bushy gray mustache, supposedly told the truck’s owner, Craig Patty, that he was taking it to Houston for repairs, when he was actually making a run to the border and back for the DEA.

For Patty, the shooting has been a nightmare that nearly pushed his small North Texas company out of business. He said it has kept him and his family living in fear that the cartel would mistakenly believe that, like the dead driver, he was working for the U.S. government.

Panic at the Patty home these days can be triggered by something as simple as a deer scampering through the wooded yard or a car pulling into the driveway, Patty has told the Chronicle.

He recalled how one morning, as his wife made breakfast, his son bolted across the house yelling, “Get the guns!”

A Bronco sport utility vehicle had pulled into the driveway past a broken gate. Dogs were barking in the pre-dawn darkness. Patty grabbed a pistol and headed for the front yard. The Bronco pulled away, leaving a shiny object that turned out to be a newspaper wrapped in a plastic bag reflecting a floodlight.

His children have grown up too quickly as a result of the DEA ordeal, Patty said.
“I’ve gone to great lengths to keep my son believing in Santa Claus,” Patty said. “And now I’m talking to him about death, mayhem and drug cartels.”

Back in 2011, Chapa was driving Patty’s truck, which was carrying marijuana from the Rio Grande Valley to Houston, as part of an operation to catch drug traffickers waiting for Chapa’s delivery.

Chapa was being trailed by officers wearing civilian clothes and ready to move in and make a bust when Chapa delivered his load. But all were caught by surprise in Harris County, when the truck was ambushed by three vehicles and run off the road.

Chapa was shot to death in the truck’s cab.

Four people are charged with capital murder for Chapa’s death, but they have not yet faced trial.

When the four were initially brought before a magistrate to face charges, prosecutors publicly confirmed that Chapa was an informant.

Just days before the attack, which authorities have said was about hijacking a load of pot instead of killing the informant, one of the men now charged in the case was stopped by Pasadena police as he left a stash house. Eric De Luna was let go by police after they confiscated $5,600 he was carrying, according to court papers. At the time, De Luna was already out on bail while awaiting trial for assault with a deadly weapon.

The lawsuit claims the facts are so “bizarre,” they almost seem implausible.
“To add insult to injury, when the government’s plans went awry, and Patty’s commercial truck was riddled with bullet holes, wrecked, and his driver killed inside the truck, instead of apologizing to a law-abiding citizen and paying for the damage to his property and his business, the government, which had betrayed him, actually turned on him,” the suit states.
Patty’s insurance company declined to fix the truck on the grounds it was used to commit a crime, and the government declined to make it right. So Patty, whose company only has two trucks, took the repair money out of his retirement savings.

The suit further contends that while Chapa has an extensive record of run-ins with the law, the DEA manipulated a Department of Transportation background check so that Chapa would look clean and be hired by Patty.

“When you start a new business, there are obvious pitfalls you go through, a learning curve,” said Patty. “But who would ever be ready to deal with this?

18 Responses

I have known Fred Sheppard for many years. I first met him when he was a U.S. Marine. He was a tencious and highly motivated Marine officer who loved sticking it ot the man and bringing the power structure to its knees. He is every bit as aggressive now and has a passion for bringing bad actors to justice. He has a unusuall talent for bringing large corporations and government entities to their knees. I pitty the fools who screwed this up.

Great story Dane. He may be suing DEA, but lots of other agencies were involved as well, Houston PD, McAllen PD, Harris Co. SO, Harris CO Constables, Teas DPS, LaPorte PD, etc…In fact, it was a Houston PD who shot a Harris Co. SO. I guess DEA and the Feds. have the deeper pockets. I could be wrong, but I don’t think anyone was disciplined for the killing of this informant. However, all shooters were arrested and are being prosecuted.

And, of course, the feds will never admit to making a mistake. Look at “Fast and Furious”. Still have not said “OOPS! My Bad”!
The feds will never admit a mistake, Look at Hillary and Benghazi.
I rest my case.

Seems to me that the now-deceased employee is the one who misappropriated the truck without the owner’s knowing; not the govt. If the owner can prove that the DEA knew the truck was being used without permission, then he would have a case. Otherwise, let his insurance pay for the damages.

I suspect the authorities who were using this truck might have run the plates or whatever to see who owned it. If the gun who is suing is correct – if he is correct – law enforcement somehow manipulated a background check so that he would not show any criminal history and would get hired so he could do his informant thing making runs to and from the border. What is true at this point is that we just don’t have all the facts. If this is settled, we’ll never know. Thanks for sharing, and raising a point.

Drugs are supposed to make you stupid. Sadly the drug war is much stupider. Legalize, tax and regulate all drugs for adults and the cartels are forced to either get back on the tractor or learn white collar crime like all the US criminals.

The US has spent well in excess of a trillion dollars over the last 40 years trying to stop the flow of drugs while terrorists, cartels and the 30,000 violent US gangs have made well over 10 trillion dollars in continuing the flow.

46,000,000 arrests of non-violent drug offenders and yet we have never stopped even one determined child from getting their hands on drugs.

I remember this story this year. Chapa’s family called him a hero.
anytime the government can you to play informant, you’re no hero, only s fool extending his on the earth, because when they’re through with you, you’re like used toilet paper.

Cops shooting each other, using private property for a police action without reimbursing the owner, getting ambushed and your informant killed, “fixing” a job applicant’s record to remove priors. This has “incompetence” written all over it.

Did you read the part of the story which notes that Mr. Patty had this guy’s background checked through the Department of Transportation – so he could be hired as a trucker – and the background came back clean? He contends in the suit that the government manipulated matters so a guy with a criminal record would look clean, and therefore be hired. And yes, he saved a copy of the DOT report stating the driver had a clean record.